


Snowstorm

by jasipereos



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cuddling, Fluff, M/M, Percico - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 19:32:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3085730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jasipereos/pseuds/jasipereos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy and Nico get stuck in a snowstorm.<br/>Warning: Percico cuddles (✿◠‿◠)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snowstorm

Percy didn’t think that he would be stuck on the side of the highway, in his broken down truck, on the day before Christmas Eve, with a guy he had been crushing on for a few months.

Percy told himself that next time he visited his mother and stepfather for the winter months he would have to watch the weather channel and listen for snowstorms. After Percy had moved out; to attend university, Sally and Paul decided to move out of the apartment. The same one that Percy had grown up in, located in New York. Sally and Paul moved only about an hour outside the city, into a small little two bedroom house. They liked their new home, it was cozy; as his mother had said it. When you went to sleep at night there, you could no longer hear the hollering of strangers below, the bustling street noise of traffic or police sirens. It was peaceful, something Sally had dreamed of for a long time, and Percy was happy she got what she wanted.

Nico; who didn’t have anywhere to go for the holidays, and was sitting in the passenger seat to Percy’s right. He sniffled, bringing Percy’s thoughts back to the current situation. Nico didn’t have anywhere to go for the holidays so Percy insisted that he should join him, his mother and Paul. Unfortunately for Nico, didn’t have any luck trying to decline Percy’s invitation in the most respectful way. Percy believed that nobody should be alone on Christmas, he dragged Nico along for that reasoning. He looked at Nico and gave him a sympathetic smile, using it as an apology for getting them stuck in a snow storm in a broken down car. Percy’s plan to bring his crush home for Christmas had backfired big time. He kept on running the series of events over in his mind for the past five minutes or so.

When they had left campus, the snow was nothing compared to the blistering downfall they were now receiving. Upon leaving, the snow was falling from the sky gently, it was powdery, the kind of snowflakes that would dust your hair lightly and fall softly on your eyelashes.

Besides the overplayed music hits on the radio, the ride was mostly silent. It wasn’t until the twenty minute mark, that silence was broken, when Nico commented on extreme shift in the weather.

"It’s snowing like crazy out here." He remarked, looking out the passenger window.

"We’re making good time, we’ll be there soon." Percy reassured him.

"How much longer?"

"Uh, maybe a half hour or so?" He guessed.

As of on cue, that’s when disaster stuck. The truck started to slow down, making weird coughing like sounds in the process. They had the rode to themselves for a while and now Percy found himself dreading that. Percy pulled over to the side of the road, and came to a stop.

Nico was the first to say something, “Did we break down?”

Percy groaned and let Nico decide for himself what that meant as an answer to his previous question that he asked.

Percy’s car was outdated, old, worn out and hadn’t aged well. Just by looking at his truck, you could tell it was a piece of junk. But Percy had faith, and also knew how his car worked. When you turned the key, the engine would roll over for a bit, then you had to slam your fist on the dashboard as hard as you could and sing Dont Stop Believing. That last one being more of a extra superstitious thing but Percy needed all of the luck he could get.

He got past the chorus when Nico interrupted him. He must have snapped out of whatever trance he was in watching Percy break out into song

"Percy, what the heck are you doing?" He asked, with one eyebrow raised. Probably thinking how cabin fever must have already claimed Percy with the sudden outburst of Journey.

"Trying to get the car to start." Percy replied flatly like it was perfectly obvious.

He turned the key again, but the car only made a few funny noises in response. Percy felt like his truck was almost laughing at him. Percy knew that finally convincing Nico to tag along for the holidays was to good to be true. He should have known something was bound to go wrong.

"Great, just great." Percy muttered to himself under his breath.

"Uh, should we call someone one?" Nico offered.

Percy knew that it was highly unlikely that they would get a hold of a mechanic the day before Christmas Eve. Although, he was still determined to try. He knew a guy who owed him a favour. Percy reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He could only hope that the person would come to the rescue with a tow truck. The garage where a friend of his mother’s worked is where Percy usually called, which seemed to be on a weekly basis.

Several rings went through, Percy was about to hang up glumly, but he suddenly heard a voice.

"Hello?" Percy recognized the voice, it was Tom. Percy was filled with relief.

"Tom? It’s Percy."

"Ah, Percy! Merry christmas! Calling because your car finally exploded?" He half joked. Percy wouldn’t be surprised if they placed bets at the garage about Percy’s automobile misfortunes.

Percy let out a content laugh, “Something like that.”

Percy explained in a brief summary what happened and where he was located.

"…So now we are just sitting here" Percy finished.

"Wait, we? You’ve got someone there with yeah?"

"Er, yeah, my friend, he’s here with me." Percy said, stealing a glance at Nico who was looking throughly displeased.

"So, what do you think? Do you think you could come get us?" Percy asked.

"I suppose, your mother would have a fit if I didn’t. It’ll be about an hour wait." Tom estimated.

"An hour?" He echoed.

That seemed to get Nico’s attention. He turned to Percy and gave him a look that seemed to say: please, tell me you’re joking.

Percy gave him a half smile back and mouthed a silent apology.

"In his snowstorm, you should be lucky I’m comin’ at all kiddo." Tom said, sounding unusually irritated. "Just sit tight and I’ll be there soon."

Percy kind of felt a little bad bothering him now. “Okay, see you soon. Thanks.”

"No prob, Percy." He replied, ending their phone conversation by hanging up before Percy could even say a goodbye.

This wouldn’t be the first time Percy had to wait to be picked up from his car breaking down. By now, he should be used to it. Except he wasn’t. Percy had always been impatient, whether it was waiting in a two minute line to order coffee or twenty minutes in a doctors office, he could never find a way to pass the time.

"So, now what?" Nico finally asked.

"We are probably just going to have to wait it out."

Nico sighed.

"I’m really sorry, I should have known this would happen…"

"You wouldn’t have known." Nico cut in, "You were just trying to be nice to me for the holidays. You didn’t want me to be alone."

Percy felt like his heart could snap in two at that last thing he heard Nico say. Of course he wanted Nico to join him for Christmas, Nico didn’t have any family to visit. He told Percy that he was just going to watch Netflix and relax by himself. That made Percy feel even worse.

"I’m still sorry." Percy said quietly.

"Don’t worry, it could have happened to anyone." Nico assured him.

Now that Nico confirmed he wasn’t angry with him, Percy’s found his mind wandering to the thoughts he would get in the waiting room at a doctors office. Apparently, Nico must have been pondering the same impatient thoughts, he unbuckled his seat belt and shift his body to face Percy.

"So… What should we do for an hour?"

"There’s a deck of cards in the glove compartment. We can play something if you want. " He offered. "I only know how to play go fish though." He added quickly, with a smile.

Nico grabbed the cards and pulled them out of the small box. “Go fish it is then.” Nico said, shuffling the cards and beginning to deal them on the seat the stretched out between them.

\- - -

"Ugh, I don’t wanna play anymore." Nico confessed, sighing in frustration.

"Is it because I’ve won the past three games?" Percy bragged.

"No." Nico spat, jokingly. "It’s just getting boring."

Percy was growing tired of the game to if he was being honest. He checked his cell phone for the time and only about a half hour had passed since he called Tom.

"God, it’s so cold" Nico muttered, rubbing his arms with his hands, which were hidden in the sleeves of his jacket. His actions made Percy realize how cold he was himself, without the heater going in the car.

He cursed his car again, hoping that would somehow revive it.

"I have a blanket in the back seat," Percy offered. "We- I mean you can use it if you want."

For a moment Nico didn’t say anything, “We can share,” he said but then added quickly; “If you want to.”

At first, Percy was shocked that Nico even thought of the idea of sharing the blanket between them. Most of the time he was saying: “Don’t touch me, Percy” or “Don’t touch my stuff, Percy”. The guy liked his personal space that was for sure.

One of the first times that they hung out with friends, the group was all joking around and Percy put a playful hand on Nico’s shoulder. Nico looked at him like he was going to cut that very hand off, if it wasn’t out of his personal bubble in the next three seconds.

Percy wasn’t scared of Nico, but he didn’t want to annoy him by taking to much of the blanket or by sitting to close. The last thing he wanted was for Nico to hate him, when he desperately wanted was for Nico to like him back.

"It’s sorta small, it won’t really…" Percy started to argue, but Nico was already turned around and rummaging in the back seat.

"Don’t you ever clean this car, Percy?" Nico asked.

Percy wasn’t sure if Nico would like the answer so he decided to not respond. Nico gripped the front seat for support while he bent over, using his other hand to search for the blanket, leaving his head somewhat visible digging around in the backseat. Percy was trying to resist the urge to check out Nico’s butt, but failed. Whenever he was with him, he always found himself trying to check out Nico without it being noticeable.

"Ah, found it." Nico claimed and crawled his way back into the front holding the balled up blanket.

Percy turned his head and pretended like he had been looking out the window the whole time.

"Here." Nico said draping the blanket across Percy’s knees.

"No, it’s okay. I’m not cold." Percy protested, grabbing the blanket and laying it across Nico.

This time it was Nico’s turn to object, “Percy, just use the stupid blanket.”

As Nico placed the blanket over Percy for the second time, his hands brushed Percy’s, they were cold as ice. Percy grabbed them, only then realizing how warm his own were. To is surprise, Nico didn’t pull away.

"Fine." Percy muttered.

Percy figured this was his chance, he scooted closer to Nico across the front seat. He was still holding Nico’s hands and placed them into his lap. Percy caught Nico’s eyes, which were wide, staring at Percy’s hands holding his own. It was only then when Percy realized he might be stepping too far over the line with being to affectionate towards Nico.

"Uh, sorry." Percy said, letting go of Nico’s hands.

Nico withdrew his hands and buried them under the blanket. “It’s okay.” He mumbled, pulling the blanket up to his chin.

Nico shuffled closer to Percy, so that their shoulders touched. Percy was sure he imagined it, but he thought for a minute Nico somewhat snuggled into his shoulder before, adjusting himself to get comfortable once more underneath the blanket.

"Percy?"

It made Percy’s heart do a little jump the way Nico said his name.

"Yeah?"

"I hate you for getting us stuck in a snowstorm." He said, with humour in his voice.

"I thought you said it wasn’t my fault?" Percy teased.

Nico nudged him gently and scoffed, “Fine, I hate your car for getting us stuck in a snowstorm.”

Percy let out a laugh, “Are you still cold?”

"Yeah, kinda." Nico admitted.

Percy decided to give a little bit of warning before making a move on Nico this time. He held out his arms and let Nico decide if he wanted Percy to hold him. At first, Nico hesitated before shifting into Percy’s embrace. Percy felt as if there were one hundred butterflies in his stomach flying up into his rib cage and trying to escape through his throat.

"Your Mom doesn’t care that I’m coming right?" Nico asked, out of nowhere. Although, Percy was glad he said something because Percy was still getting over the shock of what just happened and was trying to collate his thoughts again.

"What? No, she doesn’t mind at all, Nico." Percy assured him.

Nico nodded his head, but it didn’t really seem as if he excepted the answer.

"Thanks for inviting me, Percy. I never knew my Dad and my Mother passed away when I was little, so normally it was my sister and I, for a long time. She died about six years ago, so I haven’t really celebrated Christmas in awhile.

It felt like all the butterflies that were inside of Percy, instantly exploded. His heart sunk, into in stomach, replacing the previous fluttering feeling.

"I’m sorry, I’m glad you’re coming though." Percy said trying to comfort Nico.

"Thank you."

Percy tightened his grip around Nico and rested is chin on the top of Nico’s head. Nico leaned into Percy’s chest and sighed through his nose.

"Do you want to listen to music? I have some on my phone." Nico offered, changing the subject. Probably not wanting to talk about it anymore Percy decided.

"Sure."

Nico wiggled out of Percy grasp and reached into his coat pocket, pulling out tangled headphones and his cell phone. He stuffed the headphones back into the pocket, obviously choosing he would unwind them later. Nico brought the phone to his face and slumped his body against Percy again.

The two listened to a few songs and talked about the food that Sally would have cooked up for them for Christmas dinner, when they saw a car making its way down the highway towards them. A tow truck.

Percy didn’t know if he should feel relieved or disappointed, in a weird way, he liked hanging out with Nico like this. Cuddling together trying to keep warm was a good excuse to touch Nico. In that moment; as he watched the truck hum it’s way down the road and with Nico in his arms, Percy decided that he was going to make this Nico’s best Christmas ever.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Send me a prompt on my tumblr! (quite-the-character.tumblr.com)


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